How will Saudi Arabia look at alternatives to petrol?

[Sirotnikov]

Poorly, but perhaps due to more reasons than one:

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- An Islamic scholar in Saudi Arabia said using ethanol or other alcohol-derived fuels in vehicles may be a sin for Muslims.

Sheik Mohamed al-Najimi of the Saudi Islamic Jurisprudence Academy told Saudi newspaper Shams that the prophet Mohammed banned alcohol for all uses -- including buying, selling, carrying and manufacturing, Al-Arabiya reported Friday.

Najimi said Muslims who use biofuel, which is made from fermented plants, in their cars are violating the ban since the substance "is basically made up of alcohol."

The cleric, who said his statements represented only his personal opinion and not an official fatwa, called for further study of the issue by Islamic religious bodies.

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2009/02/20/Cleric_Biofuel_may_be_sinful_for_Muslims/UPI-21301235143033/

[SlowwHand]

Oh, jeez. The fact that it will ruin their economy is enough, why invent bull****?

[Barnabas]

Hugo Chavez feels the same about ethanol, he got very irritated when the USA made a dealw ith Brazil and Argentina to produce bio fuel there.

Hugo said that the land should be used to feed people and not to fill the cars of rich people.

VENEZUELAN president Hugo Chavez has slammed the US president George Bush's plan to substitute fuel ethanol for petrol, joining a growing debate on the continent over use of the biofuel.
The Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, recently called the ethanol project a "genocidal" plan that would spawn world hunger, though Brazil's left-leaning government has agreed with the Bush administration to help boost the global use of ethanol.

The US produces ethanol from corn and Brazil makes the fuel from sugar cane.

Mr Chavez

said: "To produce the ethanol necessary to substitute the petrol consumed only in the US, it would be necessary to cultivate nearly all the arable land on this continent."

Like Mr Castro, Mr Chavez insists that planting corn and sugar to produce fuel will waste land and water resources that could otherwise be used to grow food.

http://news.scotsman.com/venezuela/Chavez-attacks-Bush-corn-biofuel.3275693.jp

[DaShi]

I agree. World hunger would be solved, if we would just grow enough food.

[Dinner]

That was sarcasm I know but for those who didn't pick up on it Dashi was pointing out we already grow so much food much of it is wasted. The big problem seems to be the food is in one place and the starving folks are in another. Most of the time famines (North Korea, Zimbabwe, and the like) are a man made event with politics as its origin.

[chequita guevara]

While it is self-serving on his part, Chavez is correct. As soon as the U.S. began subsidizing corn to ethanol, world food prices shot up. There were food riots in Haiti as a direct consequence of this policy.

[Kuciwalker]

I'm pretty sure he's wrong about it being genocidal.

[Arrian]

Seems to me the Saudis are decently set up for solar power...

-Arrian

[Solomwi]

Seems to me the Saudis are decently set up for solar power...

-Arrian

Solar power's just not as easy to ship all over the world.

[Arrian]

Yep. Just looking for the bright side...

-Arrian

[Solomwi]

Yep. Just looking for the bright side...

-Arrian

You should be flogged for that one.

[DanS]

Thankfully, photons are spread reasonably evenly across the world. However, the Canucks are SOL. This doesn't bother me.

[Tattila the Hun]

Say, can muslims use cleaning agents that contain alcohol? Or alcohol-sterilized surgery equipment?

[snoopy369]

While it is self-serving on his part, Chavez is correct. As soon as the U.S. began subsidizing corn to ethanol, world food prices shot up. There were food riots in Haiti as a direct consequence of this policy.

In the short run perhaps - because world food prices are based on supply and demand, and supply contracted quickly in a way not easily dealt with by suppliers (you can't just suddenly grow more corn and put it out on the market tomorrow). In the long run, I suspect that will go back to the norm, and in fact the cause of solving world hunger will be helped, not hurt, by decreasing fuel prices and thus decreasing the cost to distribute food - which is one of the bigger hurdles to feeding the poor. There's plenty of food out there going to waste, but it's too expensive to ship it to impoverished areas.

[Sirotnikov]

Seems to me the Saudis are decently set up for solar power...

-Arrian

Praising the sun god is blasphemous!